Starring:
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Rated: M
WITH Australia in Olympic fever, the release of One Day in September is a sobering event.
The documentary narrates how Palestinian terrorists took 11 Israelis hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It also looks at the incompetent and, with hindsight, naive way the German government responded to security matters at these Olympics and to this crisis in particular.
All the hostages and five of the terrorists were killed. This film claims that in a later conspiracy between the Palestinian and German authorities, the three remaining terrorists were handed over in exchange for the release of a hijacked Lufthansa jet. It is argued that subsequently Mossad has killed two of the three terrorists. The lone survivor of the 21-hour tragedy at Munich is interviewed.
This film’s access to most of the surviving key players in this event is extraordinary. The power of this film, however, is the balance it strikes between the political and human stories it tells.
One Day in September won this year’s Oscar for the Best Documentary. Don’t miss this disturbing and salutary story.
